As the two adventurers began to talk with one another, a growling cause their skin to crawl before they quickly leapt away.
"I heard noises! Everyone! Stay on alert!" if it is a rookie party, they would not act like that, but the C-rankers are all survivors. They knew what will happen if they did not pay attention to their surrounding and ignore the warning of a fellow adventurers.
They die, plain and simple. As the entire C-rankers prepared themselves, 4 hobgoblins charged at the group, pushing any obstacles away.
The C-rankers avoid the hobgoblins' stampede, before looking at each other and chase after them. 10 seconds later, another 6 charged in, being late on the account of searching for their clubs. When they realized there are no humans, the continue charging, hoping to find one.
-x-
As for the first hobgoblins group, they continue their charges until they were stop by a dense line of tree. They growled before turning, their eyes fell on the adventurers. The adventurers did the same thing, quickly spotting something is wrong with them.
"This should be why they all so aggressive. A bunch of mutated ones, and not a good one at that," mutated monsters is a phenomenon of a monster possessing either physique or traits or both that normally did not occur in their species. While there are some monsters that get a good trait, like a goblin that manage to gain invisibility, most of it is bad trait.
While scholar call it failed mutation, adventurers referred to it as Mana Zone miscariage. As monsters are created from excessive mana from a Mana Zone, if there are badly mutated monsters, it can always be blamed on the Mana Zone itself, as there should not be enough mana to form a complete monster or there seem to be some issue during the creation process itself.
It did make things easier for the C-rankers, as they did not need to worry to much considering they badly outnumbered the monsters. However, no one could tell if there is any other monsters in the area and so, while 2 keep watch, the rest kill the hobgoblins as quickly as possible.
With 8 adventurers against 4 hobgoblins, it did not take long before the hobgoblins to lose their limbs, the 8 adventurers working as quickly as possible but at the same time trying to be careful as a single swipe could led to serious injury, if not death.
Soon, the 4 hobgoblins turned to 3, to 1, to zero, and just in time as the 6 hobgoblins barged in, banging their clubs with excitement, only to see 4 of their brethren being killed.
Roaring loudly, they charged at the 8 adventurers, ignoring the other 2 as they seem keen on getting vengeance. A big mistake.
The 2 adventurers who keep watch are a mage and a ranger. And so, the mage unleash a powerful spell on the last hobgoblins while the ranger targeted the one nearest to him.
The spell and arrows make short work on the two hobgoblins, leaving 4 remaining. Realizing this, the hobgoblins used their clubs as shield, blocking some of the arrows while the mage recover from her spell usage, as it is a powerful one and the only spells in her arsenal that could one-shot hobgoblins.
However with the number turned to 4 again, the remaining adventures charge at the hobgoblins. The fighters quickly severed the limbs of the 2 front most hobgoblins, causing it to scream as the club was dropped.
Then, two spear wielder thrust their spears into the hobgoblins, killing the two quickly. After the death of the two, the remaining hobgoblins seemed to realize they are outmatched and began to hightail it out of there. Another mistake.
With their back exposed, a few backstabs ended the monsters, showing how outmatched they are against a group of experienced C-rankers.
-x-
"How did the Violet Maiden lose to these weaklings again?" one of the adventurers, the ranger asked.
"It make sense. If they suddenly find themselves surrounded, how could they do anything against them. They will be quickly overwhelmed, especially if the monsters goes for the kill immediately," the mage defended the all-woman group.
"Looks like the mission is done, but we need to remain vigilant, who knew what will happen in the future," the oldest looking adventurers said. The other adventurers nodded, showing their respect to him as well as listening to the experienced man.
As they began to her out of the forest, they did not realize someone being close to them, hiding inside a large hollow tree, listening to their conversation.
-x-
"So, the all-women group name is Violet Maiden. Well, they will not be maiden any longer," he snickered to himself.
"But still, to think the 10 hobgoblins did not manage to do anything. Then again, it is divide and conquer, though it mostly because of the dumbness of the clones. They prove themselves they are not suitable for anything but cannon fodder.
Hhmm, now that I have 15 hobgoblins, I should try to get all the samples I can get my hand on. With the Storage Magic Circle, I can make sure the sample did not degrade. With this, I can create a many cloned hobgoblins as possible with my leisure,"
As he stretches himself, he also thought of the difference in strength.
"They are C-rankers, as only C and above can hunt hobgoblins. Based in their strength, every C-rank adventurer is as strong, or estimated to be, as Alina. So, one v one, I can beat her. But if there are many of them, I will likely die," he mused.
"However, if that is the case, and I can only make hobgoblins, how can I gain any SP at this point. Slimes and weaker monsters can do so much after all," he grumbled.
"Oh well," he shrugged, "I should not just use the Growth Tube on hobgoblins. After all, there are better specimen to be clone," he smirked as he head towards the Growth Tube area. Inside all 10 of them, are humanoid beings, all looked the same. They also possessed both wings and tail.
However, if one play close attention, the clones all have the same feature as the man who cloned them, with similar eyes, similar hair, and even similar body proportion, all of them are the same.